Born as Brian Joseph Burton, better known by his stage name Danger Mouse, is a Grammy Award winning, American musician, songwriter and producer. In 2004 he became famous when he released “The Grey Album”, which combined acapellas from Jay-Z’s “The Black Album” with instrumentals from The Beatles legendary “White Album”. He formed Gnarls Barkley with Cee Lo Green and produced their two albums “St. Elsewhere” and “The Odd Couple”. He also produced the second Gorillaz album, the 2005’s “Demon Days”, as well the Beck’s 2008 album, “Modern Guilt”. He has been nominated for a Grammy Award in the Producer of the Year category five times, in 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2011, and finally won the award in 2011. In addition, Burton worked with rapper MF Doom as Danger Doom and released the album “The Mouse and the Mask” in 2005. He’s works also includes The Rapture “Pieces of the People We Love” (2006), Sparklehorse “Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain” (2006), The Good, the Bad and the Queen (2007), The Black Keys “Attack & Release” (2008) and “Brothers” (2010), The Shortwave Set “Replica Sun Machine” (2008), Martina Topley-Bird “The Blue God” (2008), Joker’s Daughter “The Last Laugh” (2009), Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse “Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse Present: Dark Night of the Soul” (2010), Broken Bells “Broken Bells” (2010) and “Meyrin Fields” (2011) and curently he’s working with U2 on their upcoming album.
“Rome” is the collaboration between Danger Mouse and the Italian composer Daniele Luppi and it took five years of work. The album was recorded using vintage equipment and as well as featuring musicians who recorded spaghetti western soundtracks, it also features a reunited Cantori Moderni – the choir put together by Alessandro Alessandroni and which features on the soundtrack to “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”. The band was made of Gege Munari on drums, Roberto Podio on percussion, Dario Rosciglione on bass, Luciano Ciccaglioni on guitar, Antonello Vannucchi on organ and Gilda Butta on cello. Vocals was provided by Jack White (The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather) on the tracks “The Rose with the Broken Neck”, “Two Against One” and “The World”, and by Norah Jones on the tracks “Season’s Trees”, “Black” and “Problem Queen”. Not surprisingly “Rome” have that spaghetti western aroma, the most exciting track is “Two Against One” which reminds me of the theme song for the James Bond film “Quantum of Solace”, “Another Way to Die” performed by White with Alicia Keys in 2008. I also liked “The World” and “Problem Queen”.
Danger Mouse – Official Site
“Rome” album site
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UibsjY5K-c&w=500&h=305]
